“The history of barbecue in New Orleans sort of parallels the relationship between New Orleans and the South,” says author Lolis Eric Elie. “We are Southern, geographically, but in terms of culture, our Southernness is rightly questioned.” In 1994, when he and photographer Frank Stewart were conducting research for their book Smokestack Lightning: Adventures in the Heart of Barbecue Country, neither his hometown of New Orleans nor anywhere else in Louisiana was included.

– South Carolina pitmaster/engineer Howard Conyers is doing a South Carolina whole hog at an event near Shreveport, Louisiana on January 29

Here’s some gift ideas for the barbecue lover in your life. The bolded items are the ones I can personally recommend. Feel free to add or suggest any other gift ideas in the comments below and I’ll update the post through the holidays.

A reliable source tells me that while Mr. Mitchell’s Que Restaurant and Blues Experience is no longer in business at The American Tobacco Campus in Durham, there are plans to re-open in a larger location. In fact, Mitchell has his eye on two locations: one between Chapel Hill and Durham and another on the outskirts of Raleigh.